Colombo has failed to bring normalcy to Northeast - FJDMA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2003, 11:08 GMT]
The Federation of the Jaffna District Minibus Association (FJDMA) Sunday told the United National Front (UNF) government that it has failed to create a conducive situation in the northeast province enabling the internally displaced families to return to their villages. "Instead the government is insisting on maintaining the high security zones in residential areas according to the agenda of its military," the Federation said in a statement, Jaffna sources said.


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SLA aircraft damaged on landing, troops escape injury

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 June 2003, 18:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force's (SLAF's) AN-32 aircraft carrying 55 soldiers from Colombo Ratmalana airport to Palaly airport in Jaffna veered off the runway during landing and crashed into a nearby a signpost Saturday injuring one soldier, said security sources in Jaffna.


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PA urges UNF not to give into LTTE's demands

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 June 2003, 00:05 GMT]
The main opposition Peoples Alliance (PA) which governed Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2001 demanded the United National Front (UNF) government to place the armed forces on red alert as the PA believed that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has reverted its position to Tamil homeland policy and its demand for an institution with more administrative and political powers is a step towards LTTE's goal for a separate state, Tamil Eelam, polical sources in Colombo said.


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UN child rights body criticises Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 June 2003, 17:59 GMT]
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said it is concerned that under Sri Lanka’s legal system societal discrimination persists against vulnerable groups of children, including children with disabilities, adopted children, children displaced by conflict, children infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS and children of ethnic groups and religions.
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LTTE insists on draft framework for interim administration to resume talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 June 2003, 11:46 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in an official statement issued from its headquarters in Kilinochchi, northern Sri Lanka Wednesday reiterated its position that it would participate in the negotiating process only when the Sri Lankan government puts forward a clearly defined draft framework for an interim administrative structure for the Northeast.
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Policemen missing in east, youths take cyanide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 June 2003, 22:03 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Police personnel were reported missing in Chenkalady, 16 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Tuesday night. The two, deployed at the Eravur Police station, were riding a motorbike off duty when unidentified persons are believed to have abducted them Tuesday night, they said.
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De-link Tokyo aid from globalization agenda say scholars, NGOs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 June 2003, 16:19 GMT]
The needs assessment for spending funds pledged by donors for development and reconstruction in Sri Lanka this week should be de-linked from the globalisation agenda of the super power said two civil society groups at the conclusion of the two-day aid conference in Tokyo Tuesday. In a statement issued from Tokyo Tuesday they said the blue print for economic development presented to the donors by Colombo would exacerbate poverty in the countryside.
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Indian fishermen rescued in Trincomalee seas

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 June 2003, 15:32 GMT]
Two Indian fishermen, Palaniandy Karunanithi and Andiappan Nadukattan, were rescued by Sri Lankan fishermen in the deep seas off Trincomalee Saturday. They were sent to Mirihana detention centre to be sent back to India on the orders of the Trincomalee Magistrate and additional District Judge Mr.S.Thiagendran, legal sources said.


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Toppling UNF Government, PA's sole focus - Batty Weerakoon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 June 2003, 00:11 GMT]
"People's Alliance (PA) of President Chandrika Kumaratunge does not have alternate policies for responding to issues of national importance. Instead PA is expending its energy in planning to topple the current United National Front (UNF) government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe," said Batty Weerakoon, Leader of leftist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), speaking at a meeting of Civil Service Union in Colombo Thursday, local reports said.
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Jaffna Principals appeal to UNF government to establish IA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 June 2003, 17:35 GMT]
The Northern Principals' Association (JPA) Saturday requested the United National Front (UNF) government to establish an appropriate administrative structure in the northeast under the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to serve as a foundation for find lasting peace in the country. "This request should be accepted by the Colombo government and the peace loving groups without delay," said the Jaffna Principals' Association in a statement issued Saturday in Jaffna, sources said.


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Japanese embassy refuses visa to civil society delegation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 June 2003, 16:51 GMT]
Three member delegation of the North -East and South civil society invited to participate in the Japan donors conference by the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), a non-governmental organization based in Tokyo was refused visa by the Japanese Embassy in Colombo, one of the members of the delegation Mr.T.Mahasivam said Saturday.
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Batticaloa-Amparai News in Brief

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 June 2003, 15:20 GMT]
Batticaloa-Colombo train service to resume after a false start, new library for Batticalo Town to be opened on Saturday and suspension of bus service to Kannakipuram in Ampara district causes severe hardships to residents of the impoverished village.
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Colombo taking steps to enforce Official Language Policy - Language Commissioner

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 June 2003, 13:03 GMT]
"Although Sinhala, Tamil and English were declared as official languages fifteen years ago Sri Lanka governments of the past have not taken adequate measures to facilitate use of Tamil in Government offices of the Northeast," said D.U.Gunasekara, Head of the Official Language Commission briefing the press Friday in Rajagiriya, Colombo.


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Talks should be based on concrete proposals – Balasingham

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 June 2003, 06:45 GMT]
Negotiations on an Interim Administration for the Northeast could only begin once the Sri Lankan government had produced a detailed draft of its proposals for such a body, the Liberation Tigers said Friday. Discussions could only proceed usefully on the basis of “specific and concrete” proposals from Colombo, the LTTE’s Chief Negotiator and Political Advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, told TamilNet when asked about press reports suggesting the government had agreed to the establishment of an Interim Administration.
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Supreme Court's decision awaited on Northeast election Bill

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 June 2003, 01:10 GMT]
The Supreme Court Friday is expected to convey its determination on the Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Bill to the President and Speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament soon, legal sources in Colombo said. The bill sent by the Speaker came up for inquiry before the Supreme Court Friday for its determination, according to legal sources.
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Colombo JVP demonstration attracts more than 10,000

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 June 2003, 16:52 GMT]
More than ten-thousand members and activists, including parliamentary members of the Sinhala nationalist party, the Janta Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), took part in a massive rally in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, Friday afternoon, protesting against attempts by the Sri Lanka government to hand over Northeast interim administration to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), political sources in Colombo said.
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Political confusion in Colombo said undermining peace

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 June 2003, 20:04 GMT]
"It would be absolutely imprudent on our part to predicate the future of the Tamil people on the unpredictable political climate we are witnessing in Colombo now. It is getting progressively unstable. A politically powerful section of the Sinhala Buddhist clergy asserts that President Kumaratunga wowed during a meeting with its leaders that she would divide the Northeast province. The political bankruptcy of the Sri Lankan state in solving the ethnic conflict never stood so well exposed," said Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, MP, a senior leader of the Tamil National Alliance, Thursday.
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Police yet to investigate attack on home says Batticaloa journalist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 June 2003, 10:37 GMT]
“The Sri Lanka Police have not taken any action so far to investigate the grenade attack on my house in Valaichenai on Jan. 7 this year. I lodged a complaint at the Valaichenai Police station on the morning after the attack, in which an attempt was also made to set fire to my house”, said Mr. Senathirajah Jeyananthamoorthy, a leading Tamil journalist in the east giving evidence before a commission inquiring into attacks on media persons in the northeast Wednesday.
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Colombo urged to drop ‘double standard on interim mechanism’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2003, 18:07 GMT]
“The cease fire agreement (CFA) between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers has no basis in the laws of Sri Lanka. It is an extra constitutional instrument on which the island’s peace has stood for more than 15 months. Therefore, why can’t the Sri Lankan government look beyond the constricting parameters of its constitution to formulate an interim mechanism for rebuilding and rehabilitating the war ravaged northeast? We are urging the Sinhala polity to drop its double standard on this matter for the sake of peace," Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, a senior Tamil National Alliance MP, said Tuesday.
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Permanent appointments for Tamil volunteer teachers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2003, 17:08 GMT]
One thousand Tamil medium volunteer teachers now serving in the Northeast province are to be made permanent in their posts on the instruction of the Public Service Commission (PSC) of the central government, NE Education Ministry Secretary Mr.R.Thiagalingam said Tuesday.
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